Katrina’s Canadian Dream!

(c) Katrina Raymundo

“A task only takes as long as the time you allot for it” This photo was taken by Katrina Raymundo, posted on her internship blog. An inspiring quote that she stumbled upon while on her internship.

Katrina Raymundo, a graduate of UP Diliman BA Broadcast Communication batch 2010, is now in her internship in a GIP in Guelph, Ontario Canada! Her internship in Canada as a Communications Officer at the University of Guelph will last from April 2012 to March 2013! What a great year for GIP that is! Here is an excerpt from her internship blog:

Happy Monthsary Kay!

It’s been 4 weeks since I lived the Canadian dream, if such thing exists. And this weekend so far has got to be the best one, as I did so many new things. Well, the first month pretty much is spent doing new things and exploring the new home. But this weekend was just about spending it outside of my comfort zone.

Three things I did this weekend

1. Cook- For those who know me, I do not cook, AT ALL. Kay and the kitchen is like Nicholas Sarkozy and monogamy, they just don’t mesh well. To achieve this, I YouTubed a pesto pasta recipe, and surprisingly, it turned out to be “not bad.”

2. Went to a place where I did not know anyone- I mean, I went to a Russian Club of the University of Waterloo, with one of my co-interns. It was pretty hard  to smile and look at people even though you didn’t understand what they were saying, but I got used to it. It was music night, and as “Music is a universal language” as one Ukranian guy said it, I just enjoyed the night! We went to a Russian war tank in Waterloo after leaving the party, and it was pretty overwhelming to be the only non-Russian on a Russian tank swamped with Russians and Ukranians.

Conversation on tank:

Guy: U speak Russian?

K: No

Guy: Why not?

K: I’m not Russian!

Guy: You will soon! 

3. Went to the University Arboretum- It’s this place at the Univ which looks like a forest, and was really nice because it felt all nature-y and stuff. We just walked around, saw a snake (which I despised), and got out easily. I need to explore more so I can see more of the garden, especially the Japanese Garden. 

So all in all, a good week among the other things I did and the new people I’ve met. A really remarkable thing about going on exchange/living/working abroad is that you get to meet people from all over, and just talking to all these new people from different countries gives you a new perspective. It really makes me appreciate how lucky I am to have this experience. 

Her internship isn’t over yet! There are more interesting and exciting things is bound for her!  Read more about her internship! Visit the blog she put up just for her internship :) 

You can also live your dream in your dream country! Sign up for exchange now! or click ” Apply now” on our Applications sections! We’ll be waiting for you :)  

Carlo Go’s Brilliant Taiwan Adventure!

Business Economics graduate and now in his first year Juris Doctor, Carlo Go went on an AIESEC exchange program in Taiwan. He was under AIESEC CTLC’s “Connect The World” where he taught to junior high and high school students about our country and other global issues. Read on, on his AIESEC experience and how he surprisingly experienced things he thought he wouldn’t. 

Read his full testimonial on his experience here.

Know more stories on AIESEC Exchange, visit our exchange blog now!

5 Things I’ve learned from INSPIRE

They say inspiration is what fuels a person’s drive to reach his/her goals. AIESEC UPD’s INSPIRE aims to deliver inspiration, volunteerism and motivation to everyone. Check out what Donna Co learned from INSPIRE.

5 Things I’ve Learned from INSPIRE by Donna Co

1 | Walk the walk.

 This is nothing new. I’m also pretty sure there’s a song somewhere with this lyric, but I never truly realized how much I don’t really act until I started working on INSPIRE. I consider advocacy work to be very important to me, but when it came to the nitty gritty and the numbers, it didn’t seem like it. But there are those who do walk the walk, and they’ve truly INSPIREd me to go and complete this project, and then do some more.

 2 | Don’t just search for pleasure, search for meaning.

Let me be a bit “meta” for a while. Martin Seligman, the main proponent of Positive Psychology, found that the strongest correlate to a stable and sustainable happy life is to find meaning in it, and to serve a purpose higher than one’s own pleasure. I’m not saying don’t go and have fun, I’m saying that maybe we can look for purpose as well as have our fun. Or better yet, look for purpose while having fun.

 3 | Do good works with good people

Isn’t everything better with friends? I honestly would not have gotten through this project without my team—my ever patient, hardworking and dedicated team. And I believe that volunteering follows the same principle. Look through the opportunities and see what you can do together. Not only do you do good, you’re with the greatest people in the world!

 4 | Leave this earth better than when you found it

In my first year, first semester at UP Diliman, one of my professors said this quote that has stayed with me through the years: “Service is the price you pay for the space you occupy on this earth.” If we have the chance to change something, to make this world better for us, and the generations following us… Why not?

 5 | INSPIRE others

Anyone who has had crammer’s—I mean, writer’s block for a paper knows the frustration of lacking inspiration. Inspiration is like a seed—it leads you to grow, and then mature. It also gives you the power to inspire someone else. And maybe that’s what we need, because intelligence, talent, and creativity—we all have that; maybe it’s a matter of being INSPIREd.

Know more about INSPIRE! Read on how others INSPIRE people around them and be INSPIREd yourself! Like us on facebook